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The 18-year-old senior at Hanover Area High School was first honored as student of the month at a school board meeting, and a few days later, her fellow seniors picked her to be homecoming queen.

“When I first heard I was student of the month, I was so happy. I was smiling from ear to ear because I was being recognized for all the hard work I put into my studies and classes over the years,” Riley said at the school board meeting. “I have a serious learning disability called autism. But this hasn’t held me back from what I want to achieve in life. I will continue my studies in college in musical theater and someday like to direct a musical play.”

Riley is a very active student. She participates in the Leo Club, drama club and reading club and is captain of the Fusion dance team. She also has been performing with the KISS Theatre Company since she was 13.

Her disability makes her brain work “a little differently,” she explained, noting how she deals with being autistic.

“I try controlling it,” she said. “It gets a little easier as I go.”

Riley says her selection as homecoming queen was a surprise.

“Yeah, at first I thought I’m not going to win. Then I thought, “Wow,’” she said, recalling her reaction.

Hanover Area teachers and administrators are also fond of Riley.

“We don’t get emotional too much over the student of the month,” teacher Christa Koter-Langdon said at the school board meeting. “You have a whole second row here with tissues. You really are a beautiful young lady, inside and out, and you are an inspiration to everyone.”

Hanover Area High School Principal Daniel Malloy introduced Riley at the board meeting.

“From the moment I had a chance to meet her here at the school, she put a smile on my face,” Malloy said. “And I again think she has that effect on every individual that she comes across. In the world that we live in that can be so negative at times, it’s beautiful to have somebody like Riley in my school that not only brightens my day but everybody else’s as well.”

Riley says she enjoys going to school for the learning experiences and the time she can spend with friends, and she appreciates her teachers.

“I have a strong connection with most of my teachers,” she said.

Riley said she has been “inspired to do theater for a long time.” It’s been so long, she doesn’t remember how she discovered it. Her interest in theater is just who she is.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I just got hooked on to it since I was real little. It’s pretty natural.”

She goes to New York City to see Broadway shows two or three times a year, and her favorite was “Footloose.”

“Into the Woods” is her personal favorite of the shows in which she performed.

“I played the grandmother and the giant,” she said.

As captain of the Fusion dance team, she said, “I try choreographing dancing, go over some stuff and keep the girls in line.”

Riley says she is interested in continuing her education at Luzerne County Community College or King’s College. She has some interest in becoming a special education teacher if she doesn’t pursue a career in theater.

Riley lives with her parents and brother Connor, 20, in Hanover Twp.

“My family is always there,” she said. “My family never gave up on me. They always taught me to be the best I can be.”

Her father George is a township commissioner and manager at Procter & Gamble in Mehoopany. Her mother, Tara, works for the food service provider at Hanover Area schools, and she owns Major League Sports Bar & Restaurant in Sugar Notch.

Her mother said Riley faced a challenge being “socially accepted” and that began to change when she was 13 and enrolled at KISS Theatre.

“It made a world of difference,” she said. “The kids there, not everybody is autistic there. Everyone there seems to be — I don’t want to say social misfit — that’s not nice to say, however, it is like that. They’re just not socially, they’re not the norm. And together it’s a nice fit. They’re just nice kids. Everybody is nice to each other. No one is making fun of anyone. It’s a great, great place. Riley instantly fit in with the other children there.”

Riley was in the hospital 11 times with breathing difficulties before she was 18 months old and started talking when she was 4 years old, her mother said. Physical therapy and a speech therapist helped her catch up with other children her age.

“We came a long, long way,” Tara Bowers said.

Contact the writer:

mbuffer@citizensvoice.com

570-821-2073, @cvmikebuffer

Tara Bowers, parent

What successful parenting strategy can you share with other parents?

With Riley, it’s always positive reinforcement. And no matter what she wants to do, we always back up whatever she wants and we try, even my son who is going to be 21, we try to let them make their own decisions and then sometimes face their consequences or however it works out. Try not to tell them what to do. Figure it out on their own.

At what moment did you realize your child was special?

Really early, because my son hit his milestones earlier than normal and my daughter was not hitting milestones until much later. And I knew there was something different. She was in the hospital 11 times (with breathing difficulties) before she was 18 months, 11 times in and out, in and out. I just knew things were wrong, but at age 4, she started talking. And physical therapy and a speech therapist, we came a long, long way.

What is the greatest challenge you’ve encountered in raising your child?

For Riley to be socially accepted. She is more innocent than peers her age.